COVID concerns affecting work patterns

The Australian Bureau of Statistics has just released its latest survey on the household impacts of COVID-19 in February 2022, and the findings suggest that Australia’s labour markets are still a long way from recovery.

Despite COVID having been around for more than two years, it continues to have a direct impact on people’s jobs and working arrangements.

More than a quarter of Australian households experienced changes in their job circumstances over the preceding four weeks due to COVID.

The ABS survey reveals that a greater share of working families with children are affected by the pandemic, with more than a third reporting changes to their work situation over the past month.

More than a fifth of this group have moved to working from home, and around 18 per cent experienced a change to their working hours.

And one in 11 employed people with children weren’t able to work at all. Families without children and singles have been affected, too, albeit to a lesser degree.

So, what’s behind these impacts?

Concerns about COVID top the list, with nearly a quarter of Australians still worried about how the pandemic will affect their work patterns.

Around 16 per cent of workers found their own job situation to have changed through being a close contact of someone with COVID.

One in five have either contracted COVID or have experienced symptoms and were awaiting test results.

And a similar share of employees found their ability to do their own jobs to be affected by the absence of work colleagues, either due to working from home or being ill.

COVID continues to shape our working lives in important ways.

A sense of insecurity lingers for many in the face of COVID, and the opening of the state’s borders, while economically beneficial, will have added to their uncertainty.

But these workforce challenges have also contributed to rising costs of living and reduced the ease with which we can access goods and services.

Fewer lorry drivers are available to deliver goods to retailers, there are fewer construction workers on building sites, and fewer staff to work in shops, cafes and restaurants.

And a tight labour market makes it harder for businesses to cover absences.

Josh Frydenberg announced several emergency measures in the recent federal budget to mitigate cost of living increases.

It had to be done, and not just because of an election looming into view.

But emergency measures are unlikely to offset the pressures businesses are facing from skills shortages.

We may not yet know what living with COVID is going to look like.

But whatever the new normal is, there is a pressing need to harness the skills of as many workers as possible to keep businesses operating, and the economy moving forward.

• Associate Professor Astghik Mavisakalyan is Principal Research Fellow at the Bankwest Curtin Economics Centre.